Who Killed the Curate? [Paperback]

Joan Coggin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lady Lupin Lorimer Hastings, the vicar's loopy young wife, can't quite keep the details of her husband's job straight, but when his curate is murdered by poison, she turns her scatterbrained sights towards sleuthing in Joan Coggin's Who Killed the Curate?, a vintage reprint set in 1937 and published in 1944. Lady Lupin's comedic capers include promising to help the killer escape if he confesses, and it's anybody's guess whether her winding deductive path will end up at the killer.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 157 pages
• Publisher: Rue Morgue (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915230445
• ISBN-13: 978-0915230440
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Agatha Christie meets Amelia Bedelia, April 14, 2002

By 

CLM (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Killed the Curate? (Paperback)

Rue Morgue has done mystery fans a favor with their reprints of vintage British mysteries, and I found this story by Joan Coggin (known also for her school stories written as Joanna Lloyd - sadly, these are long OP) absolutely charming. Lady Lupin and her friend Duds are inane detectives but are very funny and well intentioned. Vicarage life is depicted in a way that seems both realistic and hysterical. I can't wait to read more.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and Funny, October 24, 2003

By 

Sherry (Waukegan, IL, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who Killed the Curate? (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book so much. Would make a wonderful play, the dialog is witty and quick and the mystery intrigues you. A real British classic. Don't miss it, I can't wait to read more.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Comme ci comme ca, September 13, 2006

By 

Pentiumm (East Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Who Killed the Curate? (Paperback)

Lady Lupin, lover of cocktails, parties, and fast motor cars, finds herself married to a charming and thoughtful vicar. Unfortunately, his parish is located in an obsure and unimportant part of the country - to call it a backwater would be to flatter it.

Just as Lady Lupin is settling into her new home (complete with competative women heading up various girl guides, mother's assocation, you-name-it organizations), her husband's curate is killed.

Here enters the mystery. Unfortunately, it really isn't much of one. The majority of the book is about Lady Lupin and how she deals with other people, domestics, guests, misunderstandings, etc. All very interesting, sometimes charming, and sometimes amusing. But as far as the mystery goes, there is very little action on it after the curate is killed.

I'm not sure if I'm being clear, but this is one of those mysteries where the murder takes place, then there is a lot of interpersonal/character developement in the middle in the guise of sleuthing, and then the killer is unmasked at the end.

There is no slowly revealing and adding new clues along the way, no additional happenings (perhaps a second killing) to deepen the puzzle, really no puzzle, per se, at all.